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'pointed leaves'. Thus Ilex aquifolium is the name for the common holly tree and means 'holly with pointed leaves', whereas Ilex platyphylla means 'broad-leaved holly'. In the binomial system the genus name is always given an initial capital letter, and the second, species name, which applies to that plant alone, starts with a small letter.
 A plant may be named after the plant 'hunter' who first discovered it in the wild and brought it back to civilisation. For example, Dickinsonia antarctica is names after James Dickson, who discovered it in Antarctica.
Subspecies (denoted by 'subsp') indicates a distinct variant of the species, usually because it has adapted to a particular region. |
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CultivarsThere are many plants that differ from the normal form of the species. These may have occurred spontaneously in the garden by mutation, or have been created by plant breeding or induced from radiation or chemicals.
These used to be called varieties when naturally occuring in the wild, and cultivars when produced by humans. More recently, all variants are now described as cultivars. Cultivar names follow the species name and have a capital name and single quotation marks. For example, Rosa rugosa 'Blanche Double de Coubert' is a white-flowered rugosa rose and Rosa rugosa 'Frau Dagmar Hastrup' has pink flowers.
HybridsHybrids are plants produced by crossing two different parent plants. These are most common between two species of the same genus because they are closely related.
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